ERCOT sets record wind output and penetration rate over the holiday weekend
Houston — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas set a new wind output record of 19.7 GW Monday, and a record percentage of regional power demand was served by wind generation over the past weekend, ERCOT data showed.
Wind generation hit as high as nearly 19.7 GW at 7:19 pm CST Monday, surpassing the previous record of 19.2 GW set in early December.
Additionally, wind energy served more than 56% of total demand at 3:10 am CST on January 19, when wind output reached 17.4 GW.
According to ERCOT data, wind generation capacity totaled over 21.7 GW at the end of 2018 and was expected to add another 8.6 GW by the end of this year.
In 2018, the grid operator added about 1 GW of wind generation capacity in the system, the lowest addition since 2013.
